Emergency department care of seizure patients: Demographic trends in southern Arizona

The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of epilepsy and characteristics of patients with seizures who presented at the Yuma Regional Medical Center Emergency Department (YRMC ED) from 2005 to 2008. A seizure diagnosis was present in 2.7% of the patients, and accounted for 1.7% of all ED visits. Visits by patients identified as having epilepsy accounted for 0.3% of all ED visits. Patients with seizures were 2.8 times more likely to have used the ED for 2 or more years of the study period compared with control patients. Patients with at least one ED visit because of seizures were more likely to have multiyear visits, 43.6% visiting the ED within 2 or more years. Patients with epilepsy and seizures were significantly younger than the no-seizure control group. Patients who had ever been admitted to the ED for seizures or epilepsy had higher ED utilization even if the subsequent admissions were not seizure related.